Elements
by TwilightFlash
Summary: Sailor Moon urges Sailor Mars to investigate an imposter among their ranks


**Title** : Elements

 **Summary** _: As the reborn Hotaru's powers re-awaken, so do memories of her tragic past at the hands of the Outer Senshi. Just a silly lil' story I've been toying around with. I hope you like it!  
_

In battle, there were no pauses. In battle, there were moments of brittle, frigid tension strung between stakes of blistering terror. There were moments of delay and of agonizing anticipation, moments of brittle, frigid tension strung between stakes of blistering terror, but there were no pauses. The battle was the punch, yes, but it was also the reeling. It was the flame–

"Mars! Helllooooooo, Mars. MARS?"

Sailor Mars blinked, her concentration snuffed out. The twin trails of fire she'd been weaving into her attack dissipated, leaving cinders to dance between her and Sailor Moon.

"Usagi, I was about to attack."

"Attack the monster?"

"Yes. Attack the monster. What else would I attack, Usagi?"

Usagi batted an ember away, irritated, as though a beast the size of a goliath was not tearing apart the abandoned shipyard before them. The others had just about immobilized the beast with their magics—presently it jerked atop one leg, Sailor Mercury having frozen the other to the pavement. Jupiter and Venus rounded its back, a knot of lightning already in Jupiter's drawn-back fist. The final blow.

Mars was going to deliver that blow.

Sailor Moon poked Mars. "You said you were going to ask her. Did you?"

Mars crossed her arms. "What? No. I didn't _ask her._ I was busy. And besides, what does it even matter?"

Sailor Moon inched closer. An explosion lit her from the side, digging conspiratorial shadows across her face. Thunder tore across the yard, and it all felt very dire and ominous. Mars recoiled from Moon.

"You control fire. Mercury controls water. Jupiter controls lightning."

Mars tapped drew back further, knowing what was next.

"What does Venus control?"

"We've been over this, Usagi, not every Sailor Scout has an elemental—"

"Is it light? Is it metal? Her attacks make no sense!"

Another explosion. Mars made to rejoin the battle but Sailor Moon was not giving up this time.

"She just shows up, and she's all 'I'm the moon princess!' until suddenly it's revealed that _I'm_ the actual moon princess, and she's actually part of my guardians, but _all_ my guardians control some sort of element…."

Mars blinked at her.

"What does she control? WHAT? What does Sailor Venus _do?"_

In a moment of terrible timing, Sailor Venus' voice rose above the thunder as she intoned her own attack:

" _VENUS! LOVE-ME! CHAIN!"_

Sailor Moon's eyes went owl-wide, as though this alone proved her point.

"See? _Love-me Chain_? What the hell is a _Love-me Chain_?"

Mars tried to push her off but the girl's grip was tight. Her irises were pinholes in the wide, manic expanse of her stare, as though she could open her eyes wide enough to make Mars see what she saw.

"She's trying to be me, Rae," Sailor Moon deadpanned. "She's using 'Love' in her attacks."

"Relax Usagi, maybe her element is like…I don't know, metal? That chain is solid. It's probably iron or something. And besides, we need a tether attack. Mercury can only immobilize using _Shine Aqua Illusion_ , but that's a wide and slow maneuver, and besides you know how bad Mercury's aim—"

"No," Sailor Moon was so close that Mars could see her own grimace in the jewel of Sailor Moon's tiara. "No, she's after my spot. She wants to be me. Iron is not an element."

"Actually, Iron is absolutely an ele—"

"Mars you're not _listening._ She's after my spot. She even brought her own fucking cat!"

Cries from below drew them both back to the battle. The monster lay in a slack coil of chain, quickly wriggling free as Mercury fought to summon another deluge of icy water. Jupiter lay in a scorched heap, Venus at her side.

"Help us, Sailor Moon!" the girls called in unison.

How Sailor Moon produced that scepter from nowhere, Mars was never sure, but in a blink that glittering weapon was in that white glove. Sailor Moon began to shimmer.

"I'm sending YOU back to the Negaverse," Sailor Moon called across the shipyard, and the monster cried in terror as rainbow light soaked through the night. The beast roared louder, scrabbling forward. It was so close that Mars could see the scorched edges of its oversized teeth.

Then, privately to Mars, Sailor Moon whispered, "You promised you'd ask her, so _ask her._ If she can't answer what element she owns, we need to steal her transformation pen. Put her on probation."

"You can't put Sailor Venus on _probation_."

"I can do whatever I want. I'm the moon princess."

The monster's ghastly roar was pierced by metal renting apart as it broke free. Mercury was ready and let loose her _Shine Aqua Illusion_. Mercury missed.

"SAILOR MOON! NOW!"

"Promise," Sailor Moon hissed at Mars as the beast galloped towards them. "Promise you will ask her."

"Jesus, Usagi, I promise! Just kill it!"

Sailor Moon's intense glare resolved into an abrupt, girlish smile, and for an agonizing moment Mars thought this was how she would die—staring at a face of unmoored, bratty cheerfulness; the true monster among them. Then, without turning to the beast, Sailor Moon release a pent surge of dazzling magic from her scepter. The beast was vaporized, the poor woman it had possessed slumping to the ground in steamed exhaustion.

"I am your fucking moon princess," she said to only Mars. "And it's going to stay that way."


End file.
